Ens, Gaspar | Fun with numbers, alchemy, and other games

Ens, Gaspar

Thaumaturgus mathematicus, id est, admirabilium effectorum e mathematicarum disciplinarum fontibus profluentium sylloge ... Nunc denuo correctio & auctior. Cologne: Konstantin Münich, 1651

Small 8vo (184 x 102 mm). Woodcut of Archimedes and the earth on title-page, numerous woodcut text illustrations and diagrams, woodcut initials and illustrations, T8 is a cancel, index at the end; strong browning throughout. Contemporary stiff vellum, tan lettering-piece, marbled edges.

Second Latin edition (the first published in 1636) of this extraordinary mixture of mathematics, alchemy and the fanciful, with sections on games, including an illustration of the corner of a billiard table (p. 146). Ens translated and adapted Leurechon's Recréation mathematique (1624) for this work (see also lot 409 for the first English edition of Leurechon's work).

REFERENCE:

VD17 23:273399R